


Cover

by Nirmalneaners



Series: unofficially official [12]
Category: DCU, DCU (Comics)
Genre: Chickens, Clark is not as stealthy as he thinks, Comfort, Coming Out, Condoms, Developing Relationship, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Feeling talks, Hay bales, Kent farm, M/M, Martha is smart, Mother-Son Relationship, Throwback, deep talks, she knows whats up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-24
Updated: 2018-10-24
Packaged: 2019-08-06 23:48:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16397396
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nirmalneaners/pseuds/Nirmalneaners
Summary: He gestured into the air sharply, "But that's the point, like Bruce said we are not in a relationship, not really.""But you want to be?" she guessed,"Maybe. Yes?"





	Cover

"You're hiding."  
  
Clark paused, hay bale still in hand as he turned to look at her with a questioning furrow of his brows. He didn't jump to deny it, that much she was thankful for because that meant he would have taken her for a fool, and she was anything but. Thirty years of knowing that boy better than she knew herself would have been insulted, instead he simply looked at her with an edge of hesitance.  
  
"Don't take that the wrong way, Clark." she continued, leaning against the porch pillar as she smiled down at him warmly. "God knows I love your visits, but you ain't come up here just to help me with some chores."  
  
His eyes flicked down to some point on the steps, his lips pulled down into a frown as he adjusted his grip on the rope.  
  
"I thought you might need some help."  
  
"You also thought you could disappear up here for a week." she countered.  
  
He turned and walked, throwing the hay bale on to the back of the truck next to the others with ease before turning to face her again, wiping his hands down his jeans slowly.  
  
"Maybe." he eventually admitted.  
  
She nodded, figuring as much. Taking a step down, she sat on the top step and watched him shift awkwardly, smiling at him and seeing the same little boy she would always see when she looked at Clark. Patting the space beside her, he eventually came over and sat on the step below. She raked her hand through his curls, felt the hair tangle around her fingers and how he relaxed into the touch more than she had seen him this last week since he first arrived.  
  
She kissed the top of his head and after sometime quietly said, "This wouldn't have anything to do with a certain Bat would it?"  
  
He huffed a quiet laugh, "How'd you guess?"  
  
"A mother knows these things, son." she joked, bumping her knee into his arm. "Of course, newspapers help as well."  
  
He let out a long sigh, leaning his head deeper into her hand. She saw his eyes squeezed shut. "You read about that, huh?"  
  
She hummed, rubbing his arm with her other hand comfortingly. "I think everyone has read that, Clark," she said, looking out over the yard. "Bruce looked more surprised about it in the picture than I did readin' it. I'm gussin' it wasn't planned for you drag him out by his tie?"  
  
"No."  
  
"It said there was a girl involved." She watched as a chicken-scratched at the ground. "He was flirting."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"You chew that girl out?"  
  
_"Ma."_  
  
She chuckled, squeezing his arm lightly. "I'm only askin'"  
  
"I still feel bad about that."  
  
"So you should," she agreed, "But I'm guessin' that's not what you're hidin' from."  
  
He hesitated before murmuring a weak "No."  
  
"You're hidin' from him."  
  
She felt a weak shrug of his shoulders as a reply as the silence lapsed back in between them. She

never pretended to understand whatever it was that existed between them two, but if their visit to her months ago revealed anything it was that there was definitely _something_ there. She continued to watch the chicken slink around, her fingers lazily stroking as she waited for the inevitable crack in the silence, and as the Chicken disappeared around the corner of the barn she felt as Clark took in a large breath.  
  
"This whole thing is a cover." he admitted, "This whole relationship, I started it as a cover story. I don't know why." He glanced at her, "I _guess_ I just wanted to spend more time with him outside of work. I wanted to get to know him better, he's my friend. I just-" he trailed off, and she waited. "I just wanted to be closer to him, I guess. I just didn't know _why_."  
  
"So what's changed?" she asked.  
  
"Everything. Nothing." he rubbed a hand across his face in frustration. "God, it's just gotten so _complicated_."  
  
She shook her head, "That's what relationships are, Clark."  
  
He gestured into the air sharply, "But _that's the point,_ like Bruce said we are not _in a_ relationship, not really."  
  
"But you want to be?" she guessed,  
  
"Maybe. Yes?"  
  
"You like him?"  
  
He turned his head to look at her fully then, biting his lip nervously. "Would it be bad if I said I do?"  
  
She didn't respond for a while, playing his answer over in her mind. It shook her, the double-edged question in there. Did he really think she would have a problem with that? But as she looked into his face, saw the worried gaze in his eyes as they met hers she realized he did. He seriously thought there was a chance she would be against it.  
  
She stroked her hand up from his arm his cheek, cupping it to force him to look at her, "Nothing you do will ever be bad to me, Clark. I think it's wonderful, whether he was Bruce _or_ Brucinda, and your Pa would say the same. I'm proud of you no matter who you date."  
  
He smiled then, bright as the sun that beat down onto them and she leaned forward to plant a kiss to his forehead, pulling back to lightly pat his cheek as she returned her hand to his bicep.  
  
"If you like the man, why are you here on my porch for?"  
  
When his smile faltered, a part of her regretted mentioning it again, but problems never get solved by ignoring them.  
  
"He doesn't know."  
  
She scoffed, "That's usually what conversations are for, Clark."  
  
"No Ma," he stressed, "You don't know Bruce like I do, it's just a cover to him. I _can't_ tell him."  
  
"I see the problem." She sighed, watching as he nodded solemnly. "The problem is you are both damn idiots." she tried not to laugh at Clark's shocked expression as she continued, "I may not know Bruce, but I can tell when someone is smitten and when that boy was here he looked like a puppy followin' its favorite plaything."  
  
His jaw worked a few times, but she beat him to it, "That man is head over heels for you, son."  
  
"No."  
  
"I'm tellin' you."  
  
_"No."_  
  
"I bet the farm on it."  
  
_"Ma."_  
  
"Don't _'ma'_ me, Mr. _I got your bum_." she teased, laughing as Clark's face scrunched up in mortification. "You two are like a damn romcom, I tell ya. Will they won't they, just call the man up and stop moping around my yard, you might be surprised. Or better yet, you know where he lives, don't you?"  
  
He gave her a doubtful look, "How can you be so sure?"

"Because that man is all kinds of crazy," she smiled, ruffling his hair as she stood. He looked up at her. "But even crazy can love."

she stepped up and walked across the porch, pausing with her hand against the door frame as she looked back at him. He was looking out across the yard, a thoughtful look on his face. She shook her head before walking inside, trusting he knew what to do.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Just to let people who follow this series know, I've had an accident and have been in the hospital, so next week there may or may not be an update, I'm unsure yet if I will be able to get one done yet. It's a maybe at the moment but look out regardless!
> 
> But if there isn't, there will definitely be one the next week!


End file.
